Bathed in the golden light of morning, the city of Pawston had hardly changed over the years – same busy streets, same green birds, same joyful barks of puppies playing in the park. But for one yellow Labrador, everything had changed.
He opened the front door, letting out a contented yawn as she scratched his lower back. Sgt. Pooch waved at him with a smile from her kitchen window, and he held up his paw with a smile back in return. In the Pawston Pawtomotive next door, the sounds of a rattling engine could be heard as Mort and Marge were already hard at work fixing up old Leo Howlstead’s vintage car. Once, this town had felt like a strange, distant world, a place Colby could never truly fit in.
But now, with over three years come and gone, it was home.
As he turned his attention to the mailbox, he caught sight of Tag and Scooch hunched over a sealed comic book, their tails drooped.
“Everything alright?” Colby said as he approached.
“Worse. Way worse,” Tag sighed. She held up the comic, shaking it slightly. “This is it. The final issue of Chaser and Chewer! The last one ever!”
“How could they do this to us?!” Scooch buried his face in his paws, crying out dramatically. “This comic’s been running our whole lives! How are we supposed to go on?!”
“I mean… “ Colby crouched beside them, tilting his head. “By reading something else, maybe?”
“Blasphemy,” Scooch muttered in offense.
“It just feels weird, y’know?” Tag sighed as she flipped through the glossy pages. “Like the end of an era. It can’t really be over… can it?”
“Well…” Colby scratched the brown patch of fur he’d grown on his chin, feeling a touch of something unexplainable deep in his soul. “...All good things must come to an end.”
“Scooch and I used to play ‘Chaser and Chewer’ all the time when we were younger,” said Tag. “Pretending we were superheroes, saving Pawston from the villains Flea and Thunder... Well, actually it was Frank and Beans pretending to be Flea and Thunder. Now that I think about it, we haven’t done that in years.”
Colby studied her expression of bittersweet nostalgia. He thought back to his own childhood – the scraps of it he could still remember – before everything went so wrong. He nudged Tag’s arm.
“So let’s do it again.”
Tag blinked. “Huh?”
“Let’s play.” Colby stood tall with a grin. “One last hurrah. Make the send-off special.”
Tag and Scooch exchanged looks. For a moment, Colby expected they were about to laugh it off. But then Tag’s eyes sparkled, and her tail gave a single wag.
“Are you serious?”
“Why not?” Colby shrugged. “Might be fun.”
Scooch’s ears perked up. “I’m game, but only if you play too.”
“Alright.” Colby smirked. “But I don’t know who I’d play as.”
Tag shot up, pointing to the first page of the comic book. “No way, look! Novahound comes back in this one! This must be a really epic finale, he’s only shown up when things are about to get real!”
“Ooooh, he was such a cool recurring character!” Scooch added.
“Alright,” Colby chuckled, “I guess I’ll be Novahound.”
Tag quickly disappeared into the house for a second, coming back only moments later with several masks and capes in her arms. “Then let’s save Pawston!”
And with that, the three of them sprinted off, laughing as they leaped into their game like pups again.
Little did they know, the real battle was yet to come.
* * *
Above Pawston, in the silent expanse of space, the Space Cadet station drifted in orbit, a shining construct of steel reflecting the distant sun. Inside, Tag’s brother Spike floated effortlessly in zero gravity, adjusting controls as he scanned the vast emptiness. It had been a routine day of monitoring satellite signals and adjusting minor course corrections – until something appeared on his scanner.
A foreign object, tumbling slowly against the void.
‘Nothing’s supposed to be there,’ he thought with a frown. He tapped the screen, zooming in. The object was a hexagonal metallic canister, unlike any satellite or space debris he had ever encountered. Its black surface shimmered with an eerie red glow, its patterns shifting as though… alive.
"Mission Control, this is Barker," Spike radioed cautiously. "I've got an unidentified object, roughly… four meters in length, rotating at a steady rate. No clear markings. Running a scan now."
Static crackled before a voice responded. "Copy that, Barker. Any signs of propulsion or distress signals?"
"Negative," Spike said. His scanner, however, was struggling to get a proper reading. It was as if the object was scrambling his instruments.
A strange unease settled in his chest.
Something about it felt... wrong.
Against better judgment, he reached for the station’s mechanical retrieval arm. If he could bring the object in, they could study it. Carefully, he maneuvered the claw toward the canister, gripping it with precise movements honed from years of training. But the moment metal touched metal…
Alarms blared, flashing red as emergency protocols kicked in.
"What the-?" His body jolted backward, weightless yet suddenly crushed by an unseen pressure. His mind buzzed with static, a high-pitched whine drilling into his skull as all power shut down - including the life-support.
Spike instinctively held his throat, his body quickly beginning to freeze as he struggled to breathe in vain.
Then, just as quickly, the moment fortunately passed as the station’s backup generator kicked in, restoring power. Spike coughed as the oxygen returned to his lungs.
The object, however, had begun moving on its own. It escaped from the mechanical arm’s grasp, slowly tilting downward toward the planet below.
Spike gasped. It wasn’t drifting. It was falling.
He frantically reached for the computer, quickly typing in trajectory equations and the GPS tracking of the Earth to estimate a point of impact. His stomach dropped at the calculated result.
"Mission Control!" he shouted, forcing his limbs to move. "The object is descending! I repeat, the object is descending – straight toward Pawston, Mastiffchewsits!"
No response.
He could only watch as the object pierced through the outer atmosphere, glowing brighter and brighter as it plunged toward the unsuspecting world below.
And deep in his gut, Spike knew – this was no ordinary piece of space junk.
This was the beginning of something terrible.
* * *
Colby, Tag, and Scooch sprinted through town square by the orange bowl-shaped fountain, caught up in their game of ‘Chaser and Chewer’. Cheddar Biscuit, who joined in as the villainous clown, “The Chuckler”, cackled as she darted around a bench.
"You’ll never get the best of me, Chaser and Chewer!" Cheddar chuckled, striking a dramatic pose.
Tag, draped in a makeshift cape, pointed heroically. "Not so fast, Chuckler! We’re bringing you to justice!"
Colby came to her side, playing along as Novahound, the legendary warrior-dog from a universe beyond. "And she’s got Novahound by her side!" He smirked, charging forward.
But just as they were about to pounce, Tag’s cellbone beeped rapidly. She glanced at the screen and froze.
Incoming Call: Spike
“Hang on everyone, Spike’s calling me.” She pressed the button, and the screen flickered to life.
At first, the signal was weak – just static and garbled audio. Then, slowly, as her brother’s face came into focus, Tag’s tail dropped.
Spike’s expression was haunted. His usually-crimson fur was a pale maroon, and he was visibly trembling. A red emergency light flashed in the background of the ship’s cabin.
"Spike?" she asked, ears twitching. "Are you okay? What’s going on?"
"S-something is c-coming," he said, his voice strained and shaken.
Tag stiffened. Scooch, Colby, and Cheddar stepped closer, their smiles fading.
"What do you mean?" Tag pressed. "What’s coming?"
Spike’s screen glitched, but his voice cut through. "I don’t know what it is, but I … something, up here. Some kind of…. I barely touched.. and… it moved. It… on its own. Now… falling. Straight… Pawston."
Tag’s paws tightened around her cellbone.
"...Spike, I can’t understand you. What do we do?"
Spike hesitated. His gaze darted away as if he were searching for an answer—one he didn’t have. When he looked back at the screen, his voice was quieter.
"Whatever happens… I love y-"
Colby’s stomach turned as Spike’s signal disconnected. Slowly, his gaze lifted to the sky. The afternoon sun still shined, the clouds drifting lazily. But he could feel it – like a pressure in the air, a shift in the wind.
The canister plummeted from the sky like a falling star, its metallic surface glinting in the fading sunlight. Colby’s eyes locked on the bright streak of light as it sped toward them. There was no time to waste.
“Everyone take cover, NOW!” he shouted out to everyone else around.
Colby shot into action, scooping up Tag, Scooch, and Cheddar all at once in his arms. In a split second, he reached the edge of town square and shielded them, using his own body to absorb the brunt of the impending impact.
Then, as if in slow motion, the canister struck the fountain dead-on with a thunderous crash. A wave of raw energy, dirt, and debris shot up into the air, blanketing the square in dust and chaos. The ground trembled beneath them, but Colby held strong, his body rippling with plasma as he absorbed the shockwave and kept the other three safe.
The impact crater smoldered in the center of town square, and as the dust cloud began to settle, a sickly silence hung in the air.
Groaning, Colby stood up, checking on the other three. Tag was the first to recover, her eyes wide with shock, but a relieved smile tugged at her lips as she saw Colby was apparently unscathed.
“Colby… are you okay?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“I’m fine,” he said, his chest still heaving from the exertion, though he was already scanning the surroundings. His glowing green eyes narrowed as they fell on the smoking crater left by the impact, the black canister barely protruding out from it like a cancerous sore.
Sgt. Pooch was quick to arrive at the disaster and quickly called for backup, the air thick with the scent of burning metal and something unnatural.
Colby’s instincts instantly screamed inside him, and he knew that whatever had just crashed into their town was far from ordinary. His heart raced, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something stirred in the wreckage, something far darker than anything he had anticipated.
Then, a low, mechanical hum echoed from the depths of the crater. The canister’s interior capsule began to emerge vertically from the wreckage, covered in a thick, pus-like slime.
Through the haze, the glint of pale yellow caught his eye. Then, a shape emerged – a form too grotesque to be anything of this world. Colby felt his gut tighten with fear, a sickening recognition curling in his chest. This was no random crash. No freak accident.
His past had finally caught up to him.
It pulled itself out of the slimy canister with an eerie slurping sound, limbs twitching as it struggled against the gooey substance that had kept it confined. When it finally emerged, its body was unnaturally elongated, over eight feet tall, and female in appearance. Its exoskeleton was the sickly whitish-yellow of pus and decay, like the underdeveloped larval stage of something wasp-like. But it was very much alive – and that was terrifying enough.
Every movement was stiff at first, but the longer it stood, the more its body seemed to come to life. With a sickening crunch, it twisted its neck to one side, releasing a chilling pop from its spine. Its lids snapped open, revealing large, red compound eyes that gleamed like blood-red orbs. They scanned the surroundings, glowing with a cold, calculating malice. Its sharp, predatory gaze fell upon the crowd of colorful dogs that had curiously gathered around her, their eyes wide with fear and confusion.
‘Dogs…’ she thought, her red eyes narrowed in repulsion. ‘Filthy. Disobedient. Mongrels. I… loathe... dogs.’
Her mandibles clicked together in frustration as she staggered forward, the joints of her body creaking as if it hadn’t fully adapted to movement yet. She looked at them with such disdain, as if she could hardly bear to be in the presence of something so... beneath her.
But then her voice, a low, menacing hum, filled the air – surprisingly feminine and calm, yet dripping with the weight of impending doom.
"Canines. I am the Great Being, Noctyrax. And I have come… to free you," she said as she opened her arms, her tone chilling in its certainty. "You may not realize it, but your existence… is a burden."
Colby tried to move his feet but remained frozen in terror, unable to believe what his eyes were beholding.
She dragged one arm across the air as she continued, like painting an invisible picture in the space before her. "I have been, since the time before time. And I have seen it all. Countless worlds, trembling in fear of the unknown, fighting against their destinies. But what if I told you there is no need to fear? That all of your problems will be no more when I put an end to the miserable mess that is your lives?"
Her voice rose, taking on a more sinister edge as she continued, "I am a merciful god, and I will free you from your fear. I will wipe this world clean, and it will achieve metamorphosis into a beautiful, lifeless husk. And from that husk, it will be reborn as my hive – a perfect, eternal kingdom."
“Hey, you forgot your clown makeup! Lemme fix that!” Cheddar Biscuit called out mockingly before she tossed a cream pie at the monster’s face, followed by a few laughs at her bold joke. The sticky, sugary mess dripped down her grotesque visage, and for a moment, she stood completely still, processing what had just happened. “What’s the matter, don’t like being part of the act? ‘Cause you’re the biggest joke here!
“Foolish pests," the alien hissed again as she wiped the cream off with her clawed hand, her voice full of venom. “You actually believe you have a choice? You will all die, like the dogs you are! My spawn will feed on your corpses, starting with… you!”
Colby’s instincts finally kicked in as the wasp lunged at Cheddar Biscuit, her claws outstretched and her terrifying eyes locked onto her. In one fluid motion, he propelled himself into the path of the wasp with impossible speed, his plasma energy flaring brightly for all to see as he became a protective shield between her and Cheddar.
The wasp froze, her mandibles chittering together as she stared at this yellow dog that dared defy her. For a brief moment, something in her posture shifted. Her large, red compound eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and sudden wariness. Those vibrant green eyes as he stared her down, that familiar expression of stubborn heroism… it was a flicker of recognition that cut through her cold, venomous exterior.
“You…” she growled softly, her voice betraying an edge of uncertainty. Her eyes flicked over him, scanning his form with growing confusion, then slowly, the words came through her mandibles, still laced with a trace of surprise. “It can’t be…”
Colby stood his ground, refusing to break his focus. He could feel the weight of her gaze, a memory of something that felt distant, but all too familiar.
“You’re him…” The wasp’s voice lowered to a hiss. “...Marcus Colburn.”
Colby’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of a name he hadn’t been called in years – a past he had tried so hard to leave behind. A life of pain and survival. He wasn’t that person anymore, but the memories... they rushed back like a flood, threatening to drown him.
“That’s not me… not anymore,” Colby said quietly through his bared teeth, his voice steady despite the storm raging inside. He met the wasp’s gaze, trying to steady his breath.
“I… am Colby Barker.”
“I didn’t expect you here… little lightning bug.” Her words dripped with malice as she regained her composure. “A human by any other name is just as doomed. But now, you’re nothing more than a dog, just like that bitch Lau-”
She didn’t have time to finish her sentence. In a blur of lightning speed and overwhelming force, Colby’s furred fist collided with the wasp’s pupa-like form, sending a shockwave that rattled the ground beneath them. The force of the impact sent the wasp flying back a bit, but she quickly righted herself mid-air, using her powerful legs to dig into the earth and halt her momentum.
“You’re quick, mutt,” she hissed, her mandibles snapping with disdain. “But speed alone will not save you!”
Without warning, the wasp lunged at Colby, her speed easily matching his. Her long, jagged legs swiped toward him, aiming for his throat. Colby spun, barely dodging her attack, and countered with a fierce swipe of his tail to her side, sending her skidding across the town square towards the Big Bowl Diner. The force cracked the ground beneath her, but she quickly recovered, her red compound eyes flashing with fury.
“How?” Colby clenched his fists, green plasma crackling around them. "How the hell are you here, in this universe?! I killed you! All of you!”
Noctyrax threw her head back in laughter.
“I admit, your extermination of my brood-sisters was quite thorough. But no, I am not the one of the many you’ve killed… and I am not the prime original, whom you have faced before. I…” Her body shifted unnaturally, her limbs extending as she darted left and right at him with unpredictable agility. “...Am the one that got away!”
Colby’s reflexes kicked in, and he ducked just in time as her sharp legs whizzed past him. He spun around and unleashed a pinpoint blast of plasma from his finger, but the wasp dodged, her movements almost too fast to track. Instead, his attack struck the ball store, shattering the large glass container of balls that spilled out into the street.
‘Dammit, that could’ve been bad,’ Colby thought. ‘I have to take the fight far away from here, where it’s safe.’
The wasp grinned, an ominous glint in her eyes.
“I will enjoy this,” she crooned, her voice buzzing menacingly. “Every second of your painful screams as you beg for death!”
She shot forward, faster than Colby could react, landing a crushing blow to his chest with a kick so powerful it sent him flying backward. Colby crashed into the doorbell store, the force of the impact demolishing the entrance. For a moment, the world around him blurred as pain shot through his body. Through his daze he could see Paw, who was understandably distraught about his store being destroyed, but otherwise unharmed.
Before he could recover, the alien was upon him, her limbs darting in like lightning strikes. Colby barely managed to catch her next strike, his arms locking with hers to halt the blow just inches from his face. Sweat dripped down his brow as he gritted his teeth, his plasma surging within him.
With a primal yell, Colby used all his strength to grab her hand and throw her off him, sending her tumbling across the square. He noticed Cheddar Biscuit, Scooch, Tag, and so many other dogs nearby, cowering in fear. He couldn’t let them get hurt by his past. Not now. Not ever.
With a blast of plasma from his feet, Colby shot into the air, trying to lure Noctyrax away from Pawston. However, the wasp was far more intelligent than to fall for such a cheap trick. Seeing an opportunity, she twisted and made a beeline for Cheddar Biscuit again, her claw reaching out to impale the small white dog.
“NO!” Colby roared, blasting forward with even greater speed. His body collided with the wasp just as she reached for Cheddar, knocking her away and shielding the smaller dog from harm. He gritted his teeth as the wasp snarled, regaining her balance.
Colby barely had time to react before the wasp darted toward Sgt. Pooch instead. Without hesitation, Colby flung himself between them, intercepting the wasp’s strike and taking the full force of the blow in his side. He gasped as the wasp’s leg punctured through his skin, the jagged talon leaving a deep gash. Blood trickled down as he staggered backward to maintain his balance.
“So pathetically predictable!” the wasp mocked, her eyes gleaming as she turned her attention toward a certain little orange dog.
Colby’s eyes widened in horror as Noctyrax lunged toward Tag, her sharp limbs reaching for her. He threw himself forward, diving into the path of the attack, and slammed into the wasp with all his remaining strength. He was desperate now, fighting not just for himself, but for the ones he loved.
But the wasp merely laughed with cruel amusement.
She kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him sprawling across the pavement. Colby heaved, his breath catching in his throat, but before he could rise, the wasp was on him again. She grabbed him by the hair, yanking his head back with a vicious jerk. Colby’s eyes filled with painful tears as her venomous claws dug into his scalp, but he fought to remain conscious.
“Let’s end this little game, Marcus,” she snarled, lifting him off the ground and slamming his back into the pavement with such force that the earth itself cracked beneath him. The impact sent a shockwave of pain through his entire body, and before he could recover, the wasp placed a clawed foot squarely on his chest, pressing down on his heart with crushing force.
Colby gasped for air, his energy flickering. The wasp towered over him, looking down with cruel amusement.
“Still the same naïve hero. You always try to protect everyone,” she hissed. “But who… will ever protect… you?”
The wasp’s foot pressed down harder against Colby’s chest, her claws digging into his flesh as his consciousness began to slip away. Every breath became more labored, the weight of the pressure threatening to crush the last ounce of strength he had left. He could feel the pulse of plasma in his veins flickering like a dying flame, and his thoughts were muddled. He wasn’t finished yet. Not now. Not… now…
Colby’s world faded into darkness, leaving him at Noctyrax’s mercy. Once again… he had failed.
Then, just as the wasp raised her foot to deliver the final blow, a sudden, sharp clink echoed through the air. A small three-pronged disc, like a miniature boomerang, struck the wasp squarely in the face. The impact was light, but it caught her attention, and she let out a sharp hiss of annoyance, turning toward the source.
There, standing with unwavering resolve, was Scooch, of all dogs. His usual meekness was replaced by an intense scowl that burned with determination, his stance bold and defiant. Slowly, he removed the green hero mask he’d been wearing.
“I will,” the little blue terrier said, his voice braver and stronger than ever before.
Tag stood beside him, her eyes shining with the same unshakable resolve. She too pulled off her purple mask, and her voice rang out clear and unwavering:
“I will.”
One by one, more and more dogs stepped forward with the same courage that burned in Scooch and Tag. The wasp froze, a sudden flicker of confusion crossing her features. These mere dogs were standing up to her, a Great Being. A god. Not cowering with their tails between their legs, as they should be.
“I will!” Sgt. Pooch barked, stepping forward with her eyes narrowed.
“I will!” Cheddar Biscuit added, a goofy but determined smile plastered across her face as she lifted her chin.
"I WILL," came a resounding chorus of voices from all around, dogs of all sizes, breeds, and backgrounds, standing with their heads held high, filled with a sense of strength and loyalty.
“Because when you mess with one dog,” Tag said defiantly, “you mess with the whole pack!"
Then – splat!
A second pie hit the towering wasp directly in the face, courtesy of Cheddar.
Thunk! A dog bowl bounced off her shoulder. Plonk! A rubber chew toy hit her in the side of the head. A hailstorm of objects – tennis balls, chewed-up bones, rocks, even a rolled-up newspaper – rained down upon her from every direction.
Pawston had had enough.
Frank and Beans, ever the troublemakers, chucked garbage at the monster and overturned trash lids like shields, banging them together to create a deafening racket. Sgt. Pooch barked out commands as a group of fellow officers used slingshots to launch pieces of kibble like tiny bullets. Even Grandmaw Barker hurled an entire bag of miscellaneous car parts at the wasp with surprising strength.
The wasp snarled, raising her arms to block the barrage. “You dare-?!”
THUNK!
A particularly large marrow bone nailed her in the forehead at just the right angle, the sharp end piercing her metal exoskeleton.
Then came the big one.
The Cannon Clown Triplets gave Cheddar Biscuit a knowing nod. She grinned, adjusting her crash-helmet.
“Load me up, clowns!” she called out.
With practiced speed, the triplets shoved Cheddar into a massive, rainbow-striped clown cannon, adjusted their aim, and pulled the cord. The cannon BOOMED, sending Cheddar rocketing through the air at blistering speed.
“WAHOOO!!” Cheddar cackled as she spiraled through the sky, striking the wasp square in the chest like a living cannonball.
The wasp let out a screech as the impact sent her staggering backward, her clawed feet skidding across the ground as her balance was staggered. Cheddar bounced off her, tucking into a perfect roll before landing gracefully on her feet, striking a dramatic pose.
“TA-DA!” she announced, throwing a handful of confetti into the air and honking her signature clown horn.
The wasp trembled with rage at such mockery, roaring violently through her mandibles. These lesser creatures had done something she had never expected – they were fighting back.
All the while, as the chaos unfolded, Colby’s unconscious body remained still. But while his wounds slowly healed, something was stirring within him – a warmth, a flickering light, as if the love and determination of the dogs around him were reaching him, calling him back from the darkness…
* * *
Colby stood in a silent, endless white void. There was no up or down, no weight to his body, just an infinite stillness. He stood there, confused, until he realized he wasn’t alone as he felt a soft little paw grab his.
Tag stood beside him, smiling gently.
“Tag…?” His voice was quiet, uncertain. “Where are we?” He hesitated, swallowing. “Am I… dead?”
Tag shook her head. “No, silly,” she said, her voice as warm as ever. “You just need a breather.”
Colby let out a breath, shoulders easing slightly. He looked at her – really looked at her. She was exactly as she always was, yet something about her felt… different. Lighter. Peaceful.
He blinked, and Tag was gone.
In her place stood Sgt. Pooch, her stance steady, her eyes full of understanding.
“You’ve been through a lot, havent’cha, ‘Hon?” she said, her gruff voice softer than usual. “You’ve been fighting so dang hard for this. For the happy endin’ you been waiting for. Feels like the fightin’ never truly ends, does it?”
His heart clenched at her words. But before he could respond, he blinked again.
Now, standing before him was Cheddar Biscuit.
Colby stared at her, feeling something deep inside him stir – something that had been buried beneath doubt and fear.
“But it’s when everything’s dark that your colors shine the brightest. Because you got something special, Colby.” She placed her paw against his chest, right over his heart. “Love, and lots of it. And with love… nothing is impossible.”
Colby furrowed his brow, Cheddar Biscuit’s words lingering in his mind.
Love? Could love alone ever really be that powerful? Win battles? Save lives?
Before he could voice his doubts, Cheddar was gone.
Standing in her place was Tag again, smiling softly, her eyes full of certainty.
“Love is everything, Colby,” she said, her voice unwavering. “Love is… driven.”
She was joined by Sgt. Pooch again, arms at her hips, her expression firm.
“Lawless,” she added with a gentle smile.
“Funny!” Cheddar Biscuit giggled as she reappeared beside them, grinning from ear to ear.
More figures emerged from the nothingness. One by one, they stepped forward – the entire town of Pawston gathering before him.
“Waiting,” mumbled Wagnes with a shrug.
“Thrilling,” said Wind.
“Harmo-ni-ous!” Kelly Korgi belted out.
More dogs joined.
“Elegant.”
“Dazzling.”
“Timeless.”
“Simple.”
Colby’s heart pounded in his chest as every single voice rang out, female and male alike, merging together like a great chorus. The crowd of voices swelled around Colby, their warmth pressing against him like a comforting embrace. It was then that he understood - for this brief moment, he was reconnecting with his other selves, many Colbys all living different lives. Looking through the lenses of their hearts like a kaleidoscope of color.
But then – another presence. One that stole his breath away.
A figure emerged from the sea of familiar faces, gliding forward with a grace he hadn’t seen in what felt like eons.
It was… her.
The one he thought he’d never see again. The one he had buried deep in the furthest corners of his soul, thinking time itself had erased her. But here she was, gazing at him with those large golden eyes just as he remembered – tender, full of knowing.
She smiled softly.
“But most importantly,” she added, her voice like a soothing lullaby. “Love is… wherever you are.”
Colby’s chest tightened, his breath shaky with emotion. His vision of them blurred slightly as tears welled in his eyes.
“...How?” His voice cracked as he looked out at all of them, his past and present woven together. “How can you all love me? Why?”
His former love got closer, nuzzling her feathery cheek against his as if to brush away his tears.
“The answer to that is simple…”
His dream began to fade as she pulled away, allowing him to look upon her smiling face one final time.
“You make it easy.”
* * *
“ENOUGH!”
The wasp’s furious scream ripped through the air as she swung her arm in a devastating arc, sending every dog in the vicinity flying backward in a single swoop. They tumbled across the cracked pavement, groaning in pain, some struggling to rise.
Her crimson orbs locked onto Tag, who was still standing, panting, defiant.
“I WILL END YOU!” the wasp bellowed, her body blurring into motion, lunging straight for Tag faster than eyes could see. The wasp’s claws pierced through the air like a needle, aiming directly for Tag’s heart-
SNAP.
Colby teleported before her, his paw clamped tightly around her wrist mere centimeters from his own heart. The sudden halt sent a shockwave through the ground, kicking up dust and ash. The wasp’s compound eyes widened in sheer disbelief as Colby, hovering above the ground, stared at her with an expression that was… oddly calm. Sympathetic, even. His collar and tag had changed from red to a pure golden as his emerald aura visibly flickered softly around him.
For a moment, there was silence.
“How is this possible?” she grunted. “You don’t have the strength you once did. I sense it. You wield no weapon, no special armor… you have nothing!”
Then, Colby spoke, with an air of reflective tranquility.
“Y'know… it's funny.” His glowing green eyes locked onto hers. “Even after billions of years… you still haven’t learned a damn thing.” His grip tightened slightly – not in malice, but in certainty. “Because you’re wrong. I do have a weapon, and I still have armor protecting me. I’ve always had it.”
A bittersweet smile crossed his face as his plasma energy crackled, surging with something greater than power.
“It’s just not the kind you can see.”
With that, Colby flicked her.
A simple, dismissive flick against her forehead like the bug she was.
And it hit like a meteor.
The wasp whipped backward as an earsplitting boom erupted from the point of contact. The sheer force of the flick sent her rocketing through the air at breakneck speed as she crashed into the distant mountain of Pink Peak.
BOOOOM!
In the blink of an eye, the center of the mountain shattered into a perfect circular crater, carved clean through as if it had been punched out of existence. The shockwave rattled the town, winds whipping through the streets as the ground trembled beneath them.
Colby turned back to look at Tag, his glowing green eyes softening for just a moment. Despite the destruction around them, despite the battle that still lay ahead, she was there – watching him with fear in her eyes, but also faith.
He gave her a small, reassuring smile.
“Keep the engine warm for me, Tag.”
Then, turning back toward his target, he bent his legs, coiling like a spring.
The earth shattered beneath him as he launched himself toward the horizon, leaving behind a shockwave that cracked the pavement into a deep fissure.
As he became a golden streak of light shooting off toward his opponent, Tag shielded her face from the brief gust of wind left in his wake.
“Go, Colby. Go,” she whispered, her heart pounding.
She was scared for him, but more importantly…
She believed in him.
High above the world, the battle raged on.
“This universe will fall!”
Colby caught up to the wasp and body-slammed her in midair, driving his fist into her gut and sending her spiraling across the countryside. She righted herself just in time for him to appear behind her, grabbing the back of her neck and flying her toward the nearby Appawlachian mountains. She tried to free herself before impact, but it was no use as Colby dragged her face against each and every cliff. He grabbed her by the ankle and slammed her down into an empty field, shattering the entire landscape for miles around.
With a furious shriek, she lashed out, her claws frantically slicing towards him, but Colby weaved through her attacks without breaking a sweat. His movements were fluid, calculated – every dodge, every counterstrike was precise. It wasn’t just strength that overwhelmed her. It was the absolute control he had over his power.
The longer their fight lasted, the more her shell began to crack. Deep, jagged fissures spread across her face, limbs, and torso like splintering glass. The same carapace that had once been impenetrable was now splitting apart at the seams.
And she knew it.
“Why do you persist?!”
Colby exhaled, his glowing green eyes striking a brief moment of fear into her .
“Because I know something you never will.”
He struck before she could react, shattering more of her armor. She shrieked, recoiling from the pain, but he didn’t press the attack this time. Instead, he stopped – standing on the empty air before her, palms out in a sympathetic offering of peace.
“I know love. I am loved, and I’m capable of loving in return. But all you’ve ever known is hatred. And that’s... sad.”
“I do not need your pity!”
Noctyrax lunged, but Colby slapped her away effortlessly. Her movements were slowing, her body breaking apart.
“I think you do. Because you’ll never know what it’s like,” he continued, “to have someone to fight for. Someone to lose. Someone to protect. Someone to love. Someone who loves you.”
The wasp trembled, her crimson eyes burning with fury. “Love is weakness!”
“No.” Colby shook his head. “Love is strength. Love is… everything.” He looked past her, past the battle, past the stars above. “I spent so long running away from it. It was so long ago… I thought I didn’t deserve it. But I was wrong. My healing needed more than just time. It needed love.”
He looked back at her, his grip loosening. “Love is something you choose. And you can choose it, too.”
She wanted to reject his words, to lash out again, to end him. But something about the way he spoke – so certain, so sure – made her hesitate.
For the first time, she didn’t know what to say.
“I am strong, and you know it. Love is what makes me strong, and I am strong enough to let even you in.” Colby outstretched his paw. “It doesn’t have to end this way. You can choose your own destiny. You can abandon hatred… and choose love instead.”
The wasp’s entire body shook.
And then, she laughed.
A sickening, chittering laugh that reverberated through the sky.
“You truly believe that?” she sneered, her body convulsing. “In this idiotic, childish notion that love is power?!”
Colby’s eyes widened as the cracks across her entire exoskeleton began to crack more and more.
“This is not my end,” she hissed. “This… is my evolution.”
With a sickening CRACK, her carapace ruptured – splitting open as a horrific, pulsating red glow seeped through.
The air grew heavy. The sky darkened.
Colby instinctively distanced himself from her, flying into the air as he could only watch the horror of her metamorphosis.
The wasp’s body convulsed violently as the fissures in her exoskeleton split wider, glowing with an eerie, pulsating red light. The cracks spread like veins of molten fire before, all at once, her old carapace shattered – the pieces disintegrating into the wind like dust.
Then, from the ghostly remains of her former skin, she emerged.
Her new body was sleek and unnatural, black as the void between stars, absorbing light rather than reflecting it. Her form was almost purely insectoid now – her limbs had grown longer and less humanoid, segmented yet eerily fluid in motion. Her claws, once razor-sharp, were now jagged and elongated, dripping with an inky, writhing substance that never seemed to settle into a solid shape.
Her wings…
They didn’t merely buzz – they screamed with a piercing, otherworldly drone that sent shockwaves through the air as they flickered, rattling the bones of anything unfortunate enough to hear it. They shimmered like dark glass as she flew into the air to meet him, their edges razor-thin, shifting erratically between transparency and pure shadow as if they existed in multiple dimensions at once.
Her face was an unholy fusion of insect and nightmare – her mandibles had become serrated, constantly twitching as if craving to consume.
Her eyes…
They had always been red, but now they burned – not like fire, but like the smoldering hatred of something ancient and unrelenting. They were deeper now, endless pits of blood-drenched rage that seemed to stare through everything they looked upon, as if seeing past flesh and bone, straight into the soul.
But the worst part…
The tendrils.
Dozens of writhing appendages sprouted from her body at grotesque angles, twitching and flexing like a parasite’s feelers. They pulsed with sickening life, their blackened surfaces shifting like liquid, constantly splitting and reforming in unnatural, jagged movements.
Some were long and spindly, lashing at the air like whips, while others coiled tightly around her limbs, digging into her own flesh as if feeding off of her.
And every time one of them moved, a faint whisper echoed in the air.
Not words.
Not language.
The sound of hatred incarnate.
Something that had no place in this world.
The wasp hovered before him, her twisted, nightmarish form silhouetted against the shattered daylight.
“My swarm will conquer this universe, and every universe beyond!” she yelled, her voice reverberating with a distortion that made the sky itself seem to tremble. Her mouth no longer needed to open for her voice to be heard; her words now came from everywhere and nowhere at once, vibrating through the very fabric of reality. “AND ALL LOVE SHALL PERISH!”
Her obsidian wings twitched once, and she flew high into the sky at him.
Colby glanced back at Pawston – at the tiny orange speck he knew was Tag, standing amidst the town he had come to love. The town that had given him a second chance at life. The many dogs that had taken his shattered heart and glued it back together again.
His home.
Unity.
A serene smile crossed his face. His glowing eyes locked onto the monstrous wasp, his mind made up.
Colby rocketed forward, becoming a blazing streak of green light and tearing through the sky toward the wasp. Their movements blurred with sheer speed, colliding over and over again in brilliant displays of light and dark. Every impact sent shockwaves across the heavens, bursts of green energy clashing against thin black whips, the sky itself trembling from their battle.
“YOU WON’T STOP ME!”
“You won’t take my heaven from me!”
BOOM!
There were no doubts to be had.
Duty.
They tore through the stratosphere at blinding speed, clashing and rebounding off each other like twin comets locked in an endless collision course.
“WHY WON’T YOU JUST DIE?!”
“Because this is my purpose!”
BOOM!
“To protect the ones I love!”
BOOM!
“With all I have!”
BOOM!
Every blow they landed shook the sky itself. Colby felt his strength being pushed to its absolute limit; but for the innocent and vulnerable dogs he’d come to know and love, he pushed on. One way or another, this had to end here and now.
“I HATE YOU!”
BOOM!
This was it.
Destiny.
The sky split with streaks of emerald lightning as Colby transformed, his physical form dissolving into pure, raw plasma. His very being became a radiant storm of neon green light, his outline shifting and flickering like a star on the verge of collapse. The sheer heat rolling off him distorted the space around him, as if reality itself was bending under the weight of his power.
Colby clenched his fist.
“And I…”
Both warriors, gods among dogs, charged toward each other one last time.
He pulled his arm back.
“...LOVE…”
The final moment came in an instant.
“...EVERYONE!”
They met head-on.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The sky erupted as a colossal green supernova detonated high in the atmosphere, the explosion expanding outward in a breathtaking aurora. Waves of luminous energy cascaded down from above, washing over Pawston like a celestial rainfall. The ground trembled, the winds howled, and for a moment, the entire world was bathed in light.
And then…
Silence.
The green aurora stretched across the heavens that showed even in the daytime, shimmered with a beautiful green glow.. It was beautiful – hauntingly so – but it was so deathly silent. No victorious cheers, no triumphant return. Just the whisper of the wind, and the quiet crackling of small fires scattered across town square.
All of Pawston stood frozen, staring up at the sky, waiting. No one spoke. No one moved. The world itself seemed to hold its breath.
Surely… surely he would come back.
Tag’s heart pounded in her chest, her paws clenched over her heart. She watched, willed him to return.
‘Any second now,’ she told herself. ‘Any second now, he’s going to come flying down with an epic superhero landing and a big, heroic grin. He’s going to tell us it’s all okay, that we’re safe now. The good guy always makes it through in the end…. Always.’
But all remained still.
The green glow continued to ripple overhead. Minutes passed. Still, no sign of him.
The hopeful murmurs of the crowd began to falter, replaced by hushed whispers, then quiet weeping.
And Tag…
Finally, longer than anyone else, something in her finally broke. A strangled sob tore from her throat as she collapsed to her knees.
“No.”
Her body shook as hot tears spilled down her cheeks, shaking her head as her cries filled the night.
“No, no, no…”
This morning had begun so normal. So happy. They were playing pretend. Laughing.
And now, just like that…
He was gone.
Her love, her everything… was gone.
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